As debt and debt relief will be a major topic at this week’s IMF-WB meetings, the Johns Hopkins China-Africa Research Institute (CARI) noted that China has done much more than any other country in working on debt relief for developing countries. China has signed on to the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and done more than its share. While China holds 30 percent of the debt of developing countries, it has contributed 60 percent of the funds in the Initiative, which is aimed at helping low-income countries cope with the expenses of the Covid epidemic.
Nevertheless, the U.S is playing the “debt trap” fiction in an attempt to limit China’s influence among the developing countries, with notorious “doughnut lady” Victoria Nuland attacking China for not doing enough to help Sri Lanka, and other U.S. officials demanding that China do more to help Ghana with its debt. China, in turn, being in fact on the high ground, has criticized the U.S. and private investors for not doing more in dealing with a debt of which they are the main holders. According to Beijing, 23 countries – including 16 in Africa – have benefited from China’s G20 DSSI relief. In November 2021, the Chinese government said it had “signed debt service suspension agreements or reached consensus with 19 African countries.”
